gypsum or "mica"

[bi1 at soas.ac.uk]

The stem makha 'earth, soil, world' also appears in omakha 'year,
season' referring to the yearly cycle of earthly change, I presume.
Cree has a similar semantic link between a word for earth and a
word for year, though I can't remember the word.

Bruce

On 3 Sep 2002, at 13:12, rlarson at unlnotes01.unl.edu wrote:

>
> Is there any relationship between La. makha and OP
> maNdhiN'ka, 'earth', 'soil', 'clay' or (I think)
> 'season'?
>
> OP maz^aN', in my experience, seems to mean 'land'
> in the sense of 'territory' or 'region'.  Offhand,
> I can't think of anywhere I've seen it used for
> 'soil'.
>
> Rory
>
> > Maya means 'bank' or 'cliff'' as in maya gliheya 'steep bank'
>
> > Bruce
> > On 3 Sep 2002, at 9:37, Koontz John E wrote:
>
> >> On Tue, 3 Sep 2002 bi1 at soas.ac.uk wrote:
> >> > Interesting that you said makha saN, I was going to hazard that a s a
> >> > guess.  The white cliffs of Dover, so I was informed by a Lakota
> >> > veteran who had seen them, are called Maya SaN.  They are of course
> >> > chalk, but look much like gypsum from a distance.
> >>
> >> What's the difference between mayaN and makha?  'Earth' vs. 'clay'?
> >> I'm guessing 'earth' from OP maz^aN 'land' and, I think, 'soil'.
> >>
> >> JEK
>
>
>
>


Dr. Bruce Ingham
Reader in Arabic Linguistic Studies
SOAS